What: A restaurant that
caters to kidsWho: Angela Roth of Peanut
Butter & Ellie'sWhere: Portland, OregonWhen: Started in 2001

When angela roth's daughter, Ellie, was a newborn, Roth
daydreamed about all the neat places she would take her when she
was a toddler. One of the places she had in mind was a
health-conscious, fun restaurant designed especially for kids.

Before long, Roth realized it would be up to her to actually
create the restaurant she envisioned. So she researched how to
write a business plan, sought assistance from the SBA's SCORE
program and attended business classes at a local community college.
Eventually, the former graphic artist obtained an SBA-backed loan
for $70,000. Coupled with an additional $16,000 in savings and
$2,500 borrowed from Roth's family and friends, Peanut Butter
& Ellie's was finally born.

"If you're going to have a fun place for kids, it needs
to be unique," says Roth, 31, who expects that the
restaurant's first-year sales will reach $180,000. "There
has got to be something that draws them in."

At Peanut Butter & Ellie's, kids can sit alone at tables
just their size, sit with their parents or even host a party.
What's more, they are allowed to make a mess, be as noisy as
they want, write or draw on an entire wall that's covered in
chalkboard paint, play with puzzles and toys, participate in
various art activities, run around in the grassy backyard play area
and eat at picnic tables.

Kids also love the healthy menu consisting of assorted
sandwiches (most are peanut butter topped with fruit jams, raisins,
bananas and the like) and fun snacks (such as ants on a log and
fruit smoothies)--all made with organic ingredients. And their
parents appreciate the bottomless coffee!

Music to Their Ears

What: An agency that finds
music for commercials and other projectsWho: Beth Urdang and Dawn
Madell of AgoraphoneWhere: New York CityWhen: Started in 1999

Whether they're promoting computers, cars or candy,
advertisers these days are increasingly seeking music for their
audio-branding campaigns. To Beth Urdang and Dawn Madell, two
executives who both had experience in the advertising and music
industries, the marketing trend looked like a promising
opportunity--so they paired up to start a business.

When Urdang and Madell first launched Agoraphone, they worked
from home to develop a music library comprising well-known and
underground scores from a variety of genres and continents. Today,
when advertisers need music to fit their branding campaigns, they
are able to license prerecorded or original scores directly from
Agoraphone. Recent big-name clients like Mitsubishi, Nike, Saturn
and Vodafone are helping to drive year-end sales toward the
$250,000 mark.

Looking to the future, the partners, both 32, hope their company
will expand its horizons by venturing into television. Says Urdang,
"It's not a question of moving from one into another, but
the goal of [our] company is to do as many different formats and
types of media as possible."

Clean and Green

eric hudson always knew he wanted to start an environmentally
friendly business. So when he first noticed an apparent rise in
consumer interest in recycling-yet few compelling products made
from recycled materials-he decided to do something about it.

After raising $300,000 in equity capital, he established an
expert dental panel to help him design a toothbrush made entirely
from recycled materials. His Preserve brand of oral-care products
launched a year later in 1997. Today, the line includes an adult
toothbrush, a kid's toothbrush and a tongue cleaner.

"[My motivation] is becoming a an innovative and
ground-breaking consumer products company that delivers [items] to
consumers that they use not only [for practical purposes], but also
to preserve our resources on earth," says Hudson, 40.

The environmentally sound products, which are sold in Trader
Joe's, Whole Foods, and Wild Oats stores nationwide, sell for
$2.79 to $3.95. Sales are poised to reach $1 million by the end of
this year, now that Recycline is in the process of introducing the
Preserve line in general grocery and drugstores.

Recycline has partnered with numerous corporations and uses
those companies' pre- and post-consumer waste, as well as any
post-industrial scraps generated on production lines, to make the
Preserve products. It's an effort Hudson hopes to expand in the
future: "We are starting a services division where we help
companies develop waste-reduction systems and source recycled
materials."